BetRivers Poker Expands Regulated Online Poker Site to 4 States
BetRivers Poker, already operational in Pennsylvania, has deployed across three other states to become a four-state licensed online poker network. It now transacts in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Delaware, and West Virginia.
More About BetRivers Poker
BetRivers is the newest entrant to the U.S. regulated online poker scene having opened its doors to customers in Pennsylvania in October 2024. The platform, developed by Rush Street Interactive, already offered online casino gaming and sports betting for some time before this.
Rush Street based its BetRivers Poker product on Phil Galfond's now-shuttered RunItOnce Poker room, which it acquired in March 2022. Therefore, many of RunItOnce's hallmark features transferred over to the new BetRivers product, like dynamic avatars, a built-in HUD, and low rake.
Why Is This Important?
The benefits of having a four-state poker network extend beyond players from, e.g., Delaware seeing that some of their opponents hail from Pennsylvania. More importantly, the total size of the player pool for all states increases substantially.
This means that tournaments can boast higher guaranteed prize pools, which in turn has a snowball effect in attracting even more participants. Waiting times for BetRivers' SNG Select product will be reduced, meaning that more games will run per hour, leading to greater customer satisfaction and higher revenue for the room. In cash game lobbies, formats that tend to attract only a small player base, like high-stakes and niche variants, will become more viable going forward.
Richard Schwartz, CEO of RSI, commented:
The launch of a unified cross-state player pool significantly enhances the BetRivers Poker experience. By expanding the network, we’ll bring more players to our tables, offer a wider variety of games, and raise the stakes with larger tournament prize pools. We're thrilled to strengthen our poker footprint and deliver best-in-class competition and community-driven play across multiple states.
Regulated Online Poker Comes to West Virginia
Licensed online poker has been legal in West Virginia since March 2019 when the Lottery Interactive Wagering Act became law. Though licensed online casinos made their appearance within the state beginning July 2020, there have not been any internet poker rooms launched in the state until now.
With a small population of under 1.8 million and a very modest gambling economy, West Virginia was likely an unappealing place to try to start up any online poker site. However, with the addition of West Virginia to the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement in November 2023, the population of the state could be added to that of other participating states to form a single player pool.
BetRivers launched its West Virginia online casino in April 2021 in partnership with Mountaineer Casino in New Cumberland, and it has offered casino gaming and sports betting since then. Now that BetRivers Poker has launched in the state, BetRivers holds a competitive advantage over its instate competitors and is able to instantly offer poker liquidity from four states to its WV clientele.
West Virginia Website of BetRivers PokerLicensed Poker Returns to Delaware
In prior years, Delaware had three online poker rooms running 888 software and pooling all their poker traffic together with each other and across 888's other rooms in Nevada and New Jersey. However, this arrangement ended in 2023 after Rush Street Interactive was chosen to replace 888 as the state's tech vendor.
From the end of December 2023 until just now, there were no regulated online poker sites available in Delaware as the 888-powered rooms shut down and RSI's solution was not yet ready. Now, however, customers at Delaware's three online casino sites – Bally's Dover, Delaware Park, and Harrington Raceway – have access to the BetRivers Poker platform, ending an 18-month blackout period.
Another MI Online Poker Site
In only one of the states that BetRivers is expanding into is there a healthy existing regulated poker economy. This is Michigan.
BetRivers is competing against PokerStars, WSOP Online, and BetMGM Poker in the Wolverine State. In addition, DraftKings offers a limited form of lottery poker called “Electric Poker” in the state. Whether the market will be able to support this many virtual cardrooms remains to be seen, but the fact that all of them have joined their poker liquidity together via the MSIGA should help matters considerably.
Five-State Poker on the Way?
New Jersey is conspicuous by its absence from BetRivers' new service area. However, the Garden State is not being ignored by the firm's leadership. According to a statement released by the company, “RSI also plans to launch BetRivers Poker in New Jersey later this year.”
If and when this happens, RSI will have the first five-state online poker network in the regulated USA poker world. It will thus be poised to become the traffic leader among all state-licensed internet poker rooms. BetRivers already offers online casino and sportsbook services in New Jersey in partnership with the Golden Nugget Casino, so it won't be starting entirely from scratch.
Offshore Poker Delivers the Goods
Via offshore poker sites, a ready mechanism already exists that offers combined player pools and high levels of poker traffic. Because these operators are located in international jurisdictions and do not have to comply with the restrictive diktats of meddlesome state regulators and bureaucrats, shared liquidity across many states and countries is a matter of course. There's nothing illegal about playing at such sites as you'll realize if you consult this examination of the legality of online poker.
Among these operators, one that transacts in every state is CoinPoker. It also uses crypto-currency extensively to enable speedy transactions and evade cumbersome banking rules. When you made your initial deposit at CoinPoker, you can look forward to a 150% welcome bonus up to $2,000. Click below to go to the Coin Poker website:
For further details about how Coin Poker works, look to this review of Coin Poker. For further facts about internet poker, check out this guide to online poker in the United States.
June 11, 2025 – by Max Golden, Editor-in-Chief